Nairobi EditionEst. 2026 · Kenya
Kenyan case law, reported plain — every brief verified against the original judgment
1,846 rules the Supreme Court has laid down since 2011, each with the judgment and paragraph it comes from. This is the ratio of the corpus — the part that actually binds, separated from the reasoning around it.
The Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction under Article 163(3)(b)(ii) of the Constitution is contingent upon national legislation prescribing such jurisdiction; where the relevant national legislation does not prescribe appellate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court but instead designates the High Court as the final appellate court, the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to hear appeals from the High Court.
A court must first establish that it has jurisdiction before considering any procedural issues in a case — jurisdiction is the threshold question that precedes every other.
The Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction under Article 163(4)(a) of the Constitution is confined to matters involving the interpretation or application of the Constitution, unless the Court certifies a matter of general public importance.
An application for leave to appeal out of time will only be granted where exceptional circumstances are shown and the intended appeal is arguable — delay is not excused merely because a party is pursuing other remedies.
The basic structure doctrine limits the power of constitutional amendment: Parliament cannot amend the Constitution to destroy its basic structure or core values.